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Wiki source code of ERPrototaculous

Version 245.1 by Ravi Mendis on 2009/07/16 09:46
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Ravi Mendis 100.1 1 == Introduction ==
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Ravi Mendis 209.1 3 ERPrototaculous was developed to provide the ajax functionality in ERDivaLook.
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5 === What is ERPrototaculous? ===
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Ravi Mendis 233.1 7 Features include:
Ravi Mendis 209.1 8
Ravi Mendis 233.1 9 * 'Organic' support for Prototype and Scriptaculous in WebObjects.
Ravi Mendis 245.1 10 * No custom Prototype extensions
11 * A set of widgets in the Prototype + Scriptaculous family.
Ravi Mendis 241.1 12 * Use of [[Unobtrusive Javascript>>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unobtrusive_JavaScript]].
13 * Pseudo-stateless ajax responses
Ravi Mendis 233.1 14
15 ==== Unobtrusive Javascript in ERPrototaculous ====
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17 Unobtrusive javascript is used in contrast to on-demand style of ajax programming.
18 By including Javascript as well as CSS globally in the page wrapper, CSS and/or Javascript doesn't have to load inside ajax requests.
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20 The result is **faster** and more **reliable** ajax in WebObjects applications.
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22 ==== Prototype WebObjects Elements ====
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24 ##Ajax.Updater## and ##Ajax.Request## have been implemented as WebObjects dynamic elements.
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26 ===== Ajax.Updater =====
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28 Support for Prototype's [[Ajax.Updater>>http://www.prototypejs.org/api/ajax/updater]] is in the form of three components:
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30 * AjaxUpdaterLink
31 * AjaxUpdaterButton
32 * AjaxUpdaterForm (with ##onsubmit## for ajax form submission)
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Ravi Mendis 239.1 34 These components will update a **container** on the page.
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Ravi Mendis 233.1 36 ===== Ajax.Request =====
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38 Prototype's [[Ajax.Request>>http://www.prototypejs.org/api/ajax/request]] is in the form of:
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40 * AjaxRequestLink
41 * AjaxRequestButton
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Ravi Mendis 239.1 43 These are used for strictly **background** ajax communication.
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Ravi Mendis 229.1 45 ==== Prototype + Scriptaculous Widgets ====
Ravi Mendis 211.1 46
Ravi Mendis 209.1 47 * Accordion
48 * LightWindow
49 * ModalBox
50 * CalendarDateSelect
51 * FileUpload
Ravi Mendis 233.1 52
53 == Forms in ERPrototaculous ==
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55 Differences from using forms in WebObjects. i.e ##WOForm##:
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57 1. All form controls must be named. This includes text fields, selects and buttons.
58 (WebObjects dynamically assigned names are not compatible with ERPrototaculous).
59 1. All forms in an ERPrototaculous app are instances of ##AjaxUpdaterForm##.
60 1. Form submits can be the form of a:
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62 *
63 ** Static ##<button>##
64 ** WOSubmitButton (if the result is to update whole page/app.
65 ** AjaxUpdaterButton (to update a **container**). Or
66 ** AjaxRequestButton (for a background ajax request)
Ravi Mendis 241.1 67
Ravi Mendis 245.1 68 == Page Caching Ajax in ERPrototaculous ==
Ravi Mendis 241.1 69
70 One notable difference in the ERPrototaculous and Ajax.framework is in the ajax responses.
71 ERPrototaculous updates and actions break with "The WebObjects Way" by being pseudo-stateless.
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73 Instead of returning a new context, an ajax update or action is in fact the same.
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Ravi Mendis 245.1 75 The reason returning a new context is not necessary is because a client never travels back or forwards through an ajax application unlike in a typical WebObjects app. Here the current state (or context) of the update or action is all that is necessary.